Multicultural Citizenship

A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights

Will Kymlicka

Multicultural Citizenship

A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights

Will Kymlicka

Description

The increasingly multicultural fabric of modern societies has given rise to many new issues and conflicts, as ethnic and national minorities demand recognition and support for their cultural identity. This book presents a new conception of the rights and status of minority cultures. It argues that certain "collective rights" of minority cultures are consistent with liberal democratic principles, and that standard liberal objections to such rights can be answered. However, the author emphasizes that no single formula can be applied to all groups, and that the needs and aspirations of immigrants are very different from those of indigenous peoples and national minorities. He looks at issues such as language rights, group representation, religious education, federalism,
and secession--issues central to an understanding of multicultural politics, but which have been neglected in contemporary liberal theory. Scholars of political theory and philosophy, as well as the general reader, will find this work to be the most comprehensive analysis to date of this crucial political issue.

Multicultural Citizenship

A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights

Will Kymlicka

Reviews and Awards

Winner of the American Political Science Association's 1996 Ralph J. Bunche Award

"This is a very important book, one that is indispensable for the present discussion of multiculturalism....An immensely rich, informative, and above all clarifying work, written by a first-class philosophical mind, animated by a humane outlook. It ought to be compulsory reading for all those who want to carry on the debate in this area."--American Political Science Review

"In a powerful argument for the compatibility between liberal theory and "group differentiated rights," Kymlicka resolves the tension between liberalism and group rights by contending that individuals must exist within a "societal culture" in order to express their political and cultural identity....An important addition to liberal theory and necessary for students and scholars at all levels."--Choice

"Will Kymlicka is among the most important and interesting liberal political theorists writing today."--International Affairs

"Clear, unpolemical, and open-minded, it nicely marries normative political theory and institutional analysis...This is a fine book, and the one to which students of multiculturalism must first be sent."--The Journal of Politics